Eternal Blossom: The Golden Age
by Cosette 24601
Summary: Princess Aiyanna of the dryads always prided herself on her virtues: honesty, chastity, loyalty. And yet to help her people and obey her parents, she is forced to throw them all away and seduce her best friend, the High King to keep him from being able to prepare the Narnians for a nymph uprising.
1. Once Upon a Time

**Hi! While writing my other story _The Mercenary, _I decided to give the character Aiyanna her own story. You don't need to read my other story (but please do!) to understand what's going on. I've taken some liberties in describing how dryads work in Narnian world, so I hope you don't mind. Eventually this storyline meets up with _The Mercenary_ and extends past that one. I'll try to not make them too redundant with each other for anyone who's reading both. As always, please review!**

**Heads up, I purposely made the main character somewhat a Mary Sue like character at the beginning, but then the events of the story change her to make her more complex. So if you don't like her character at first, just hang in there and she'll get more interesting.**

**Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Narnia. **

Once upon a time, for that is how stories begin in Spare Oom and War Drobe, there was a dryad princess, Princess Aiyanna, the eldest child of dryad King Ahiga and dryad Queen Amitola, and sister of dryad Prince Yuma. She was born during the evil reign of the White Witch. Her parents, being the King and Queen, they were naturally the most powerful and practiced at woodland magic. Those surrounding them, the dryad nobles, were also masters of magic. Therefore, they had enough magic to keep the seasons regular where they lived and keep away the influence of the White Witch. As long as they chose to not interfere with the Witch, she left them alone, unsure if she would be able to defeat them. And the nymphs, the dryads and naiads, may not want the Narnians to die, but their long quarrels with them made them unlikely to want to help. Others dryads who were not so fortunate to have been born with their tree in that area chose to either follow, or pretend to follow, the Witch's reign or draw into themselves to eternal sleep.

One day, after hearing rumors for days of the appearance of the four Children of Adam and Eve, Aiyanna heard voices in the trees.

"How do you talk to the trees? Just randomly talk to a tree?" a voice asked.

Another, younger voice, said, "I'm not sure, Su. I guess we try that since we don't have any other choice."

"Seems a little silly to talk to a tree in eternal sleep," Aiyanna said, approaching the two girls. "Who are you? I am Aiyanna, crown princess of the dryads."

"Oh! Then hello, your highness. I'm Susan and this is Lucy. We're Queens of Narnia, according to, well most everyone who's told us we are. Or will be," the elder one said.

Aiyanna swept a beautiful dryad curtsy and said, "Your highnesses. For what errand did you wish to speak to a tree?"

"Aslan's dead," the younger one said in a hollow voice.

Aiyanna gasped, "Surely no!"

The elder one nodded, "The Witch killed him on the Stone Table. You can come look and see if you wish, to prove that we're telling you the truth."

"Nay, I believe your word, your graces."

"Can you send someone to tell our brothers? They're expecting Aslan for the battle tomorrow!" Lucy cried, grabbing onto my arm. I gasped from surprise at her lack of decorum, not from actual insult, but she misinterpreted it and apologized.

"No matter. Do not fear, child. If he allowed himself to die, there is surely good to come from it somehow. And yes, I will inform your brothers."

Aiyanna could have sent someone instead, but she was rather interested in seeing these legendary human kings for herself. She shifted into leaves and blew herself to where she had heard Aslan's camp was.

She found a tent that seemed fit for human kings and crept under. She flew about, letting a few of her leaves brush the boys' cheeks before assembling into her humanlike form and passing along the message. The elder boy at first reacted in shock, but quickly seemed to trust her, his gaze not leaving her even as she left.

Afterwards, the young princess went to her parents in hopes of rallying troops to fight alongside Aslan's army.

"Nay, we shall not fight if Aslan will not be there, my daughter. For without him, surely Narnia will fall," my father said gravely.

"Nay, father, I implore you, let us be what tips the scales in favor of the Narnians. With us, there is still a chance. Without us, the White Witch will get a secure grip upon all Narnia by wiping out her enemies at once and then our spring power may no longer be enough to protect us whence she can concentrate on fighting us."

"My daughter, you are too youthful to comprehend such things as battle," her father said, dismissing me. Aiyanna, ever the dutiful – too dutiful in fact – daughter, bowed her head and left.

While she sat, she dug her hands into the ground, asking for answers and was bewildered to find it out the Great Lion had been resurrected. She hurried back towards her father. He did not believe her until he asked the ground for answers and felt Aslan's presence in Narnia as well.

"My daughter, you have brought us great news. Today we fight the tyranny of the White Witch. Today all Narnians alike will rejoice at the return of Aslan, the coming of the kings and queens, and the end of this winter," King Ahiga announced to the dryad nobles gathered around. He sent several dryads to the Naiads and to other various dryads who were not gathered so that they would join in battle.

They arrived just a few minutes before Aslan himself did. After the battle ended, the dryads who were blessed with woodland magic used it to heal the wounded. And of course the Queen Lucy was there with her wondrous cordial.

* * *

Princes Aiyanna, along with Lord Liwanu and an assortment of other dryads attended the coronation of the kings and queens as ambassadors. At that time, King Ahiga and Queen Amitola believed their sovereignty to be autonomous from the rest of Narnia and refused to acknowledge the kings and queens as their superiors, especially such young children, but rather viewed them as rulers of a separate state. The Naiads felt similarly, preferring to follow the river gods. The nymphs all did respect them however, and the leaders found it appropriate to send ambassadors. Lord Liwanu became the official dryad ambassador to Cair Paravel.

"Hi! Um. Ah, would you care to dance? Milady?" the High King said awkwardly, walking up to Aiyanna.

"Your majesty, although I would prefer to not contradict a High King, the term is 'your highness' for a princess," she responded. "And yes, your majesty, it would be my pleasure."

Peter wasn't sure what to make of her response, but led her out to the dance floor anyways.

"Your majesty, no offense, but are you quite sure you are thinking of the correct dance?' she asked, for he was missing almost every step. She had to find a way of saying it politely though, but she was well-practiced in the ways of court.

"It's alright Princess, you can say it. I'm horrible at dancing. I've never done this sort of dancing before," he explained. "Anyways, I asked you to dance because I wanted to thank you for delivering the message from my sisters, mil-your highness."

"You could have done that without embarrassing yourself on the dance floor, your majesty," she laughed.

"You don't have to use my title if you don't want to, princess," he said suddenly.

"Then you shall not use mine either," Aiyanna said, surprised. Dryad nobility was always very formal with titles except during their wild forest dances, but she was young enough to not yet care about titles and pomp and such.

"Excellent. Does this mean we're friends then?" he said with a genuine grin.

"I've never been friends with anyone who's not a dryad before," Aiyanna shyly confessed. Her parents generally looked down on other creatures, and Aiyanna hated letting them down so she minimized how often she had to consort with other creatures.

'Well, there's a first time for everything,' he said cheerfully while attempting to twirl her around. Somehow she ended up stuck in his arms, unable to twirl either way. He frowned, trying to figure out what to do from there.

"Uh, really sorry about this," he said awkwardly. His sister Susan saw and looked over, frowning. Aiyanna grinned uncertainly at her, worried she might interpret the awkward embrace as more than just her brother's humorously bad attempt at dancing.

"How about we just sit down and partake in the delicious refreshments?" Aiyanna suggested, pushing his arms off of her. They walked over to the refreshments together and spoke for quite some time, mainly him asking questions about how the dryad realm work.

"May I ask you a rather touchy question?" he asked. She frowned, but nodded her consent.

"Do you think there's going to be issues? Between the dryads, and naiads, and other Narnians?"

She stayed silent for a few seconds. He got nervous at the silence and backtracked, saying, "I'm sorry if that was an inappropriate question. I'm not quite used to this ruling this yet."

Aiyanna laughed. "Nor at dancing either so it seems. But yea, that was an inappropriate question. I should not answer it. But that does not mean I will not. I will say that you have a good reason to be worried. But let us not speak of such things now. Today is your coronation, a time for celebration. There will be much time for such worries and so little time for joyful days such as this one."

"As you wish, princess," he said, grabbing her wrist to lift her hand to his lips to kiss it. "I hope that you will visit often." Aiyanna was surprised by his forwardness, having only experienced the much more formal, much less friendly dryad nobility.

"I hope I can too. And you simply must visit the trees as well. But… you may want to learn how to dance better before joining in the wild woodlands dance," she smiled to soften the insult, but he was already laughing. She then joined in with a light laugh, glad to avoid the dangerous topic of the sedition that she was well aware was forming.


	2. Plotting

"My illustrious daughter!" King Ahiga called to Princess Aiyanna.

She curtsied in the dryad fashion and asked, "You sent for me, father and king?" Aiyanna was soon to be a young woman, at least by human standards, and was being taken much more seriously than before even though by dryad standards she was still rather young. She hoped that her parents sending for her meant she would finally be given the opportunity to prove herself and her claim as their heir. The queen however, seemed unhappy with Aiyanna being called to council.

"I'm sure you have heard rumors of the anger dryads have with the human king. He is far too young and inexperienced to rule. He has interpreted his title as 'High King over all Kings of Narnia' to mean sovereignty over the monarchies of the nymphs. We the king and queen of the dryads and Queen Maji, queen of the Naiads are much grieved by this grave insult."

"Father, I hardly think he has. Each time I have spoken with him he has been eager to please and wishes for peace in Narnia. He comprehends and emphasizes with our wishes of independence. If there is some insult, he may not know his actions were interpreted as such and an audience with him may clear confusion," Aiyanna said, wishing to protect her friend. For indeed, she had met Peter several times since, for she always volunteered to travel to Cair Paravel as often as she could and he often came himself when Cair Paravel needed to send an ambassador to the dryads. She felt she had a duty to speak on his behalf.

"He is two-faced," Ahiga said, growing angry. "He shows you, my daughter, a face very different than who he truly is. But that is to our advantage."

"I do not understand," Aiyanna said, growing confused.

"You are young and know little about the ways of love, but the dryad council has noticed the Narnian King's affection towards you. Other than his sisters, you are the female he speaks with the most and with the most interest. He has sought you out even while he tries to evade other women, and this is a weapon we can use to our advantage."

Aiyanna gasped, not believing that her closest friend would be in love with her. "I know it is not my place to contradict my father and king, but I hardly think so. We are friends and our relationship as friends works because we do not have emotions such as that of romantic love to complicate how we interact. He seeks me out because he knows I do not flirt like those other… hussies."

"Indeed, you do not. But it may be just that which attracts him to you and makes your company preferential over the… hussies as you call them," Queen Amitola said.

"As I said before, you are too young to comprehend. We all see it, and you must use it to our advantage. War is coming, and we need every advantage we can get," the king said loudly. A few of the dryads cheered in affirmation.

"You want me to grow closer to him? I thought fathers often wanted their girls as far as possible from boys who are interested in them," Aiyanna teased, secretly hoping to dissuade him from this course of action. Some of the younger dryad nobles chuckled and shook their leaves at her jest, but the older ones disapproved of anything but serious talk at council.

"Indeed! It pains me to see you so close to a man I do not approve of for my precious daughter. But with war on the horizon, as king, my duty is first to the dryads, as it is your first duty as my daughter and heir."

Aiyanna gritted her teeth. She did not want to displease her father and the council, for they were right about it being her duty, but she was not eager to go against her friend. "Of course I am loyal to the dryads and will do my part in ensuring our success if war is indeed inevitable."

"See? My daughter will indeed be a devout and great queen," her father boasted. Several of the nobles nodded. "Daughter, you must do thus. Make the High King so utterly entranced by you that his attention to the war falters. A young boy enamored by his first infatuation has no business leading an army, which will make it easy for us to conquer and take back our right to our independence."

Aiyanna knew she'd probably regret speaking up, but felt she had to anyways. "But Father, is the High King not Aslan's chosen? Would we not be turning our back on the Great Lion who created us and holds all of us in his paws?"

There were uncomfortable murmurs in the court. Aiyanna had obviously found a sore spot for the council. King Ahiga frowned. "We do not seek to displace the king, only to keep our independence. As long as we do not try to dethrone him, we will keep our loyalty to the Great Lion."

"Mother and queen, what say you? Do you agree with my father's plan?" Aiyanna asked, hopeful that her mother's general silence meant disagreement.

"While I dislike using you as a weapon, I do not disagree about our need to fight back and it is my duty to let my daughter, the crown princess, defend her people in any way possible. For that reason, I fully support your father's plan of action, although I wish there was another way."

"We have contacted the two Narnian queens, claiming to wish to send you to their court to learn the ways of human courts. They have assented to give you residence at Cair Paravel for the next year, along with your guard and a few attendants," King Ahiga announced.

"Then I relish the chance to demonstrate my loyalty to the dryads and do my part in ensuring our success," Aiyanna said proudly, raising her hands and tossing her leaves. Many members of the court cheered.

"You will leave at the end of this week. And whatever passes between you and the Narnian king, remember where your true loyalties lie. He is two faced and is not truly in love with you. It is merely a lustful infatuation. You must not truly have any feelings towards him," her father warned.

"I have no romantic feelings towards him. I cared for him as a friend, but if he is indeed two-faced as you have said, then he has only befriended me with one of those faces, knowing I would despise the other, and therefore I shall not call him a friend any longer," Aiyanna said decisively. She still had her doubts, but if both her parents said so, then they must be right for they were much older and wiser than she was. She also highly doubted he had a 'lustful infatuation' with her, but she also wasn't entirely sure what those words even meant.

"Friends," King Ahiga said, speaking the entire council. "Now that we know we will have my daughter working inside the castle, let us plan our next steps of war. Daughter, you are dismissed. Prepare yourself for your stay at Cair Paravel."

Aiyanna curtsied and left. She knew what she was: the crown princess of the dryads. She could not, would not, let her friendship with Peter hinder her from doing what was best for her people.


	3. Special Guests

Once upon a time there was a king. And this king was currently absolutely, positively bored, listening to dull petition after petition.

Susan said there were special guests arriving after the last petition was heard. Peter seriously could not care less at this point. It's not like he disliked being king, but it was so freaking tedious.

"Peter!" Susan hissed. Peter blinked. Oops, the petitioner was waiting for an answer. And Peter had missed most of the petition.

"My eldest royal sister will make the final decision," Peter fumbled. Susan glared at him, but spoke to the petitioners anyways. Peter thought he was off the hook, but then Susan took advantage of the commotion made by them leaving and the new petitioners entering to lean over to Peter and pinch him.

"Ow!" Peter complained.

"Pay attention!" she whispered. "We don't want to offend anyone!"

"I know! I know! It's just so boring," Peter complained in her ear.

"Well, the special guests today will perk you up," Susan whispered. She leaned back into her throne and grinned at him with a devious look. The four of them listened to a few more petitions, Peter actually attempting (with only a little success) to pay attention now.

"That's the final petition, your majesties. And your guests await outside to greet you," Mr. Tumnus said.

Lucy giggled and looked at Peter. Even Edmund straightened up in his throne. _Great, so Susan told everyone but me who these "special guests" are,_ Peter thought. _Well, I guess they must be pretty good if even Ed's interested. _

"Greetings, Kings and Queens of Narnia," the leader of the group exclaimed, reaching her arms out. Pete suddenly straightened up and grinned. It was his dearest friend, Aiyanna.

"It gladdens our hearts that you will be staying with us for a year," Susan said, peeking over towards Peter to see his reaction. Peter's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Susan continued with a smile, "Mr. Tumnus! Call the attendants to show our guests to their rooms."

"If you do not mind, I would like to stay and speak with High King Peter," Aiyanna said with a small smile.

Susan blinked in surprise. She hoped that perhaps Aiyanna was returning Peter's feelings for her. "Of course. We will leave."

"I would be delighted to speak with you!" Peter exclaimed. Aiyanna smiled calmly. After everyone else had left, he hugged her. After a moment's hesitation she hugged him back. Dryads rarely hugged as friends.

"I am very glad to stay at Cair Paravel," Aiyanna said shyly.

"I'm so glad too! Susan just told me 'special guests' were coming! I had no clue it would be, you know, someone I might actually want around," Peter said with a grin.

"Now how often does a girl get a compliment as flattering as that?" Aiyanna said, trying out sarcasm for the first time.

"You've been spending too much time with Edmund and his sarcasm," Peter commented.

"I heard there is a ball next week?" Aiyanna said, hoping to use it to get closer to him.

"Yeah, I've been working on my dancing. Want to see?" he said, giving a shallow bow and offering his hand to her. She curtsied and took his hands.

"You have improved," Aiyanna said. "Since the last time you visited the woods, and definitely since the first time I danced with you. Do you not remember our first dance?"

"How could I forget?"

"Well, it was your coronation day and I expect you danced with many that day."

"I don't really remember the other ladies that well," Peter said. Aiyanna blushed.

"You mean the others weren't as rude as to point out how bad you were at dancing?" she said. She then mentally winced, realizing that probably wouldn't seduce him. But Peter only laughed.

"No, you're special," he said, pushing some leaves and hair behind her ear.

"My being rude is special?" Aiyanna said, purposely misinterpreting his words so he'd be forced to clarify them.

"No, _you_ are. You are special."

"Thank you, my lord," Aiyanna said, looking down in false modesty.

"I mean it," Peter said a bit forcefully.

"So, are you looking forward to the ball?" Aiyanna pressed.

Peter gave her a look. "Oh, yes. Because you know how absolutely much I love balls and dancing."

"Now who's been spending too much time with Edmund?" she teased. "But balls can be fun."

"Yes, but it means I have to spend the next week fighting off all those ridiculous girls who are hoping for me to escort them to the ball, and then eventually pick whichever one is the least annoying," Peter explained. "I didn't have to at my coronation, because it wasn't a full ball."

"I'm afraid I am unfamiliar with the idea of being escorted to a ball, having only ever gone to woodlands dances," Aiyanna lied, despite having gone to actual balls before. She began scheming to manipulate Peter into taking her to the ball. She was wary, however, knowing it had to seem like it was his idea. "What happens if no one asks to escort me?"

"I'm sure you'll have the opposite problem of way too many men asking you," Peter said taking her hand and comfortingly rubbing it.

"What makes you say that, your majesty?" Aiyanna said flirtatiously.

"Well, um… well. You're rather um… tall," Peter stuttered, taken aback by her question. It wasn't like Aiyanna to ask such things.

"Tall?" she said a bit crossly. _Seriously? _

"Um… yeah. Tall is pretty, right?" Peter stammered, trying to correct himself.

"Are you saying you think I'm pretty?" Aiyanna said, taking a step forward.

"No, that would be an insult. You are beautiful," Peter said. Aiyanna blushed, genuinely taken aback by his compliment. "Every man is likely to ask you to the ball."

Aiyanna tried the opposite approach, since this was going in circles. "Do you know who you are planning to ask?"

"If I had my way, no one," Peter said. "Sometimes I really wish it was possible to challenge ladies to a duel and then just be done with them that way."

"Well, you'll just have to find someone who doesn't annoy you," she said suggestively. "And I do hope whoever it is that escorts me will not be someone I find annoying either."

"Hey, Ana," Peter suddenly said. "Let's go to the ball together! I mean, if that is pleasing to your highness."

Aiyanna feigned surprise and said, "If your majesty wishes it." Her plans were in motion.

* * *

"We're to start off the dancing," Peter said at the beginning of the ball, leading her out onto the dance floor.

"I think I rather enjoy this ball," Aiyanna said after a few minutes. "Are you at least finding it bearable?"

Peter smirked. "More than bearable. Can't I just dance with you all night?"

"Truly? The monotony of dancing with only one girl would not bore you?" Aiyanna said with the edge of her lips curling into a smile. Peter couldn't resist smiling back.

"Not if she is you."

"Well, dancing with you, milord, is never monotonous. I never know at what point you may step on my toes," Aiyanna teased. They bantered as they danced together for a few more songs.

"We should dance with others soon," Aiyanna said. "But by midnight our duties to dance with any others will have been fulfilled. Let us meet again then?" Aiyanna said, wanting to be sure that Peter would return to her.

"Yes!" Peter said eagerly. "Meet me on the terrace."

A few dances later, one of the dryad lords, Lord Nahele asked her to dance. Aiyanna gladly accepted. She and Nahele had grown up together and more than a few dryads had gossiped about the likelihood of him asking to court her. But then again, they would gossip forever about any noble dryad who as much as looked at her.

"Princess, we heard your conversation. Wait until a bit after midnight. Make _him_ wait for you. And you are to make your move tonight. After hearing the reports of how he has responded to your advances thus far, Lady Zitkala believes that you will be able to move forward faster than we anticipated," he informed me. Aiyanna sighed. She should've known Nahele had only asked her to dance to inform her of Zitkala's instructions.

"And by moving forward she means….?" Aiyanna asked dutifully.

"Less subtle hints of your fake intentions towards him. Try to naturally slip it into a conversation," Nahele said. "Indeed, I agree with her; the time is ripe. See how the High King glares at me for dancing with you." Surely enough, Peter was looking over at them, annoyed.

"Should we make him jealous?" Aiyanna said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"If your highness wishes it," Nahele said agreeably, a small smile tugging the edge of his lips. He was lower nobility, so he was more fun than most noble dryads. He deftly danced her over towards being within earshot of Peter, being careful to not be too obvious. They instantly made up some story about some supposed woodlands celebration, Peter getting more upset by the second.

Ten minutes after midnight, Aiyanna walked to the terrace, pretending to be hurrying when she got close.

"Your majesty, please pardon my lateness," she said calmly with a curtsy, but her heart was pounding inside from anticipation.

"I'm just glad you made it, princess. For a moment I thought you were going to ditch me for Nahele," he said, smoothly taking her hand into his and bowing to kiss it, linger just a second longer than was appropriate.

"And I thought you might not be here and rather spend the night with Lady Emelina," Aiyanna teased.

"I'd completely avoid that one if I could," Peter disagreed. "She's the type of girl I could never be even friends with. But I can't afford to offend her father."

"You categorize girls as ones you could be friends with and ones you can't?" Aiyanna asked seemingly innocently.

"I guess you could say so," Peter said ruefully.

"And I, my lord?" Aiyanna asked, inching towards him.

"You...um… what was the question?" Peter said, suddenly distracted by how close they were, despite having been just as close with every girl he had danced with earlier.

"I assume I fall in the category of girls you could be friends with?" she said sweetly, leaning her head in.

"Um... no... I mean… you have a special third category, all to yourself," Peter said, grabbing her hand to pull her in towards him again.

"And what would that be, my lord?" Aiyanna asked in a demure manner.

"How about you guess?" Peter said a twinkle in his eye. Aiyanna had a fairly good guess, based on it being the very reason she had been sent there. But she was unsure why he was playing games. Perhaps he wanted to be sure of her feelings before revealing his?

"I'll give you a hint, Ana" Peter said hesitantly after Aiyanna's silence. "It's better than either of the other two categories."

"I think I'd like to wager a guess, your majesty," Aiyanna said slowly.

"Yeah?"

Aiyanna leaned in and kissed Peter on the lips. His eyes widened in surprise. Aiyanna pulled back when she realized Peter was not kissing her back.


	4. Secret Tryst

Edmund saw Peter sneak out of the ball, and then a little while after, Aiyanna snuck out the same direction. _Well, this is a new development, _he thought with a smirk. _The two biggest good two shoes I know sneaking out?_ Ok, maybe it was a coincidence, but Edmund just had to go spy on them. Normally Peter getting the girl would annoy him, but this was Ana. Sure, he liked her a lot better than the annoying girls who threw themselves at him because of his title, but too be honest, he found her boring. And too much of a goody-two-shoes. So in short, perfect for Peter. Although he saw her and Peter laughing earlier, which was also quite a new development. Usually when Ana laughed it seemed uncertain, like she was unaccustomed to laughing. Come to think of it, she probably wasn't used to laughing. The regular dryads were fun, but the nobles? Forget it.

Edmund finally found them and his jaw fell open. Kissing? Heck, he could barely believe the two of them would spend time alone together. He'd expect Ana to be all upset over the breach of propriety by being alone with a man. Kissing without being in a courtship? That was scandalous by any Narnian's standards. He leaned in to see better, wanting to get more information to tease Peter with.

* * *

Peter could hardly believe his luck. He had assumed she had no interest in him. Well, not that sort of interest. But now here she was, kissing him passionately, although a bit awkwardly. He realized she had probably never kissed a boy before, being a bit of a prude. He was kinda surprised she would do anything less than virtuous, including of course kissing a man she was not betrothed to. She suddenly drew back, searching his eyes. Peter pulled her back in, kissing her much more passionately than she had him. This kiss was much sweeter. Peter never wanted to stop.

Aiyanna was torn. On one hand, she was delighted that the dryads' plotting had worked so incredibly well. On the other hand, she now had absolutely no excuse for not going through with it. But… he was a rather good kisser. Aiyanna jealously wondered what other girls he had kissed before.

Suddenly Peter and Aiyanna heard a crash. They turned and saw Edmund standing up from the ground, a sheepish grin on his face.

"Um… hey….. I just… um… hi." Ed stammered awkwardly. He felt guilty when Aiyanna hide her face in her hands.

"Ed, just go," Peter said frustrated.

Edmund happily left the awkward scene.

"Lucy! Lucy!" he hissed when he saw his sister. He signaled for her to follow him and they snuck into a side room. "You won't believe what I just

* * *

"Sorry about that," Peter whispered, trying to pry Aiyanna's fingers off of her face. "Ed just… Ana, c'mon. Can't we just pretend him interrupting us never happened?"

Aiyanna stayed silent, having absolutely no clue what to do from here. She knew there was no way to keep a relationship with the High King secret for long, but she didn't think that it would be this short of a time before her reputation was ruined.

"Ana, please," Peter whispered, finally being able to pull her fingers off of her face.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to react so," Aiyanna said, taking a breath to steady herself.

"You're not upset over our kiss though?" Peter asked tentatively.

Aiyanna knew she had no choice but to reassure Peter that she was not upset over it, but she hesitated a moment anyways. "No, of course not, milord. It was… interesting."

Peter grimaced. _Interesting? _But hey, at least she actually kissed him. "But you enjoyed it, right, princess?"

"Yes, of course, your majesty," Aiyanna said, smoothing the skirt of her dress to give her something other than the startling intensity of Peter's eyes to look at.

"Would…. Would you want to kiss again, your highness?" he asked.

Aiyanna tried unsuccessfully to repress a sigh. "Yes, your majesty."

Peter leaned in and kissed her again. Aiyanna willingly kissed him back, but with much less passion than Peter. She did in fact enjoy it, but it was accompanied by pangs of guilt.

Peter finally pulled away from her, but only to move down to her neck and kiss her collarbone. Aiyanna ran her fingers through his hair. His warm breath on her neck was oddly comforting. His hands wandered about the sides of her body, tracing odd patterns on her leaves. He eventually pulled away, gasping for breath. After a moment, he looked as though he was about to go on with kissing her, but Aiyanna put her hands on his chest to stop him.

"Peter, I… I can't. This isn't right. We are not courting, so we should not do such things. I am sorry that I kissed you. I should not have acting such," she said. Since Edmund was obviously not going to be able to keep his mouth shut, they might as well have a public courtship. Aiyanna had hoped to not deal with such awkwardness, but it was better than having her spotless reputation on the line.

"Ana, you need to learn to have fun sometimes," Peter said, leaning in again for a kiss. She pushed him back again.

"Nonetheless, I must insist you cease," she said evenly.

"Or… we could officially court each other," Peter suggested. "Would you like that?"

Aiyanna faked a smile and snaked her arms around his neck. "Of course I would."

"I will ask you officially in the morning in the Throne Room," Peter stated.

"I worry about what the other dryads will think," she lied, knowing fully well that their reaction would be to congratulate her for accomplishing her mission so well.

"And the court at Cair Paravel," Peter agreed, a bit nervous. "But it's my choice and it's your choice, so each group will just have to go along with it."

"Indeed," Aiyanna said with a smile that did not meet her eyes. "Now, if you would excuse me, I should retire for the night. Therefore I will be well rested for our announcement in the morning."

Peter smiled and gave her one last kiss. "Farewell. I simply cannot wait."

As soon as she left, Aiyanna sought out Lady Zitkala to tell her of the latest developments. Aiyanna thought she would be pleased, but her frown only deepened.

"A public courtship would ruin the rest of our plan," she muttered a bit angrily.

"What do you mean by the rest of our plan?" she asked, confused. "There… there was more to the plan that I was not told of?"

"Indeed, your highness. We didn't tell it to you because we thought you might not agree to coming to Cair Paravel if you knew it was part of the plan. I was to tell you later, but your relationship with the High King moved much more swiftly than I had anticipated."

"What was the rest of the plan?!" Aiyanna exclaimed. "Tell me of it this instant! This time, I want to know absolutely everything."


	5. Plans Unravelling

**Hi! It would be nice to get some constructive reviews. **

Lucy skipped as she went to go see Aiyanna. She was so excited that one of her brothers was finally interested in a girl! Well, Ed was interested in several girls, but not like this. And granted, there were other girls that Lu would have preferred to have as a future sister who would've played with Lucy and been fun, but Aiyanna was super nice and Peter was so happy with her! She heard yelling in Aiyanna's room, which seemed rather unusual, and decided to wait outside and listen first.

"I don't even know how to seduce boys! How do you think I could pit them against each other that way?" Aiyanna shouted. Lucy's eyes widened. Aiyanna was always docile and composed. If she was actually shouting, something must be very wrong. And what was this about … _seducing boys?_

"Just having the High King alone is not enough. You may be able to distract him, but the younger King is also capable of war," another voice said. Lucy tried to pinpoint it. Lady… _oh what was her name?!_- Zitika? Zilaka? Something with a Z.

"So are the two queens," Aiyanna hissed. Again, this was rather out of character for her. Something must be incredibly wrong. "Am I supposed to try to seduce them too?"

Lucy gasped as she pieced it together. Aiyanna didn't actually love Peter?!

"Don't be ridiculous," Lady Z- hissed. "If they do become a threat, we will send for Prince Yuma."

"Now my young brother is to be part of this mess?" Aiyanna cried. "Is it not enough that I am forced into this dangerous and uncomfortable position, now he must too?"

Lucy was somewhat relieved to know that Aiyanna was being somehow forced into this. But it would still break Peter's heart to know Ana was only playing him!

"Prince Yuma would be glad to do his duty in aiding the nymphs in the upcoming war, as are you," Lady Z- said sternly. _War?!_

"Say what you will, but now that Peter and I are soon to be in a public courtship, I clearly cannot be seen with his brother, who is too loyal to him to betray him such and is not interested in the likes of me for any romantic relationship anyways. Have one of the other dryads or a naiad seduce him if you must. I cannot."

Lucy knew she had to warn her siblings. About the war, about being seduced… but at the same time, Ana was her friend! And it would break Peter's heart.

"So be it," Lady Z- said. Lucy quickly ducked behind a curtain so the dryad would not know that she had been listening. The dryad stormed passed, angrily leaving a path of leaves on accident.

"Who's there?" Aiyanna called, noticing a movement in the curtains. She walked up to the curtain and pulled it back to find Lucy. Her eyes widened. "Queen Lucy… why?... Did… did you hear what we were talking about?"

Lucy slowly nodded. "It'll break Peter's heart if he finds out! Why… why is there going to be a war?" she said, deciding to go with the least personal question first. Aiyanna gestured for Lucy to come into her room and then shut the door behind them.

"You are aware of how the nymphs enjoy some autonomy from your rule?" she inquired. She wasn't sure how knowledgeable the youngest queen would be on such things. Lucy nodded, so she continued. "Apparently your brother, the High King, has been overreaching with his power and angering my people. They are particularly angered because they also believe him too young and inexperienced to have any power over them – not that I agree with that part of it."

"Peter wouldn't! I mean… yeah his power is getting to his head a bit, but he would never do anything against the dryads, because… well, because of you. He wouldn't want to make you mad," Lucy said, grabbing Aiyanna's hands.

"My parents were rather sure of it," Aiyanna said uncertainly. "They would not seek war without cause."

"Maybe… maybe there's some misunderstanding. Talk to Peter! He would listen to you." Lucy said eagerly. "I'll make a deal with you."

"Yes?"

"You probably don't want Peter to know that you were plotting against him, or about the possibility of a war. And – what was that?" Lucy said. She had just heard some noise outside. Aiyanna peeked outside, but saw nothing unusual, so Lucy continued. "And I don't want him to be heartbroken nor do I want a war. So you go talk to him about the perceived overreaching of power, and I will say nothing about your plot."

"You would do that? You would keep this secret from your family? Why?"

"I already said why! Plus, I have a feeling you wouldn't be doing this entirely voluntarily, so I don't want you to get in trouble either."

"Would you permit me to talk it over with the other dryads before agreeing?" Aiyanna asked.

"Of course."

The other dryads begrudgingly agreed that they had no choice but to accept Queen Lucy's deal.

Aiyanna hoped to speak with Peter at once, but his guards said he would not have time for her until that afternoon, which would be after the announcement of their courtship. Aiyanna had hoped to get this over with in hopes it would end their courtship before it even began, but it looked like that was not to happen.

Aiyanna's maids helped her get ready for the announcement, giving her encouragement that it was not bad. They might as well have been silent though, for all the comfort it gave her. Soon she was in the Throne Room, Peter's siblings at his side as his council and the highest ranking soldiers in attendance. Lucy gave Aiyanna a little wink, which she found a bit odd.

"Narnians, you may wonder why Princess Aiyanna and several of the dryads are here. I invited them to come, so I might ask the princess something that is dear to my heart. Princess Aiyanna, I entreat thee to come forward to me."

"Gladly, your majesty," she said, walking up to his throne. Peter rose to his feet and held up a necklace. The court gasped at the sight of how expensive this necklace must have been. The dwarves had really outdone themselves on making it.

"This necklace is to signify our courtship. If you should choose to accept it, we will officially commence our courtship," Peter said solemnly.

Aiyanna hesitated. To deny the necklace would allow her to terminate the courtship before it even began. She glanced back and saw the younger dryads, who better understood her reluctance to enter into a false courtship, looked sympathetic. But the elder dryads looked at her sternly, giving her no choice. She took a breath and faced Peter with a smile. "Of course, your majesty. I willingly accept this courtship."

Peter grinned widely. He put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her around to face the court. He then placed the necklace around her neck and fumbled a bit with the clasp in back. He then stepped around and took her hand into his and raised it. The Narnian court cheered loudly. The dryads clapped politely.

As it was the last order of the business, the court disbanded after this announcement. Several Narnians, including all three of Peter's siblings, approached Aiyanna with congratulations and warm welcomes. Peter was the subject of much teasing – mainly from his brother – and congratulations. But there was one particular person who approached him who stood out.

"Lady Fylinia," he said to the badger who approached him.

"Your majesty, I overheard some… important information about the Princess Aiyanna which I must tell you in private."

"Alright," Peter said. "Tomorrow."

"It is rather important information," she pressed.

"Is she in danger?" Peter asked quietly.

"No, sire."

"Then, tomorrow."

"Come in, Ana," Peter said with a big grin as his beloved came to his study.

"Working on papers?" she asked.

"As always," he said, pulling her in and closing the door. He then tried to pin her to the wall to kiss her.

"Peter, please," Aiyanna begged, gently pushing him off of her.

"Sorry. Probably should've romantically worked up to that or something?" Peter said hesitantly.

"I… It's alright, Peter. But I came here to ask you about something, not to… you know," she said blushing.

"Ask me anything," Peter said gallantly, taking her hand and kissing it. Aiyanna couldn't resist giggling a little. He led her to a comfortable couch and sat down beside her.

"What is it?"

"My… my parents don't… approve of you," she said slowly. His face fell.

"So you think they would not approve of our courtship?" He knew she would never do anything her parents would not want.

"I'm allowed to choose my own suitors, as long as they are of a suitable rank, which makes you more than qualified," she said with a smile. "But… they think you have… overstepped into their authority."

"In what way?" he asked silently.

"So you do not deny it?" Aiyanna said a bit coldly.

"Ana! Please, believe me I would never do anything against you or your family. I only asked in what way in case I did so unknowingly," he cried out. Aiyanna looked deep into his eyes, trying to see if he was telling the truth or not. He either was, or was trying to convince himself that he was.

"Why do I not fully believe you?" Aiyanna said, just a bit of sadness in her voice.

"Ana, if there's anything, please! Tell me, and I will fix it expediently," he said gallantly, placing a fist across his chest in a sort of pledge.

"I will write to my parents in hopes that they will begin more open communication with you in the future," she said with a smile. Perhaps this could solve all the problems and Aiyanna's treachery would never come to light. "In fact, I will go at once." She sprung up and began walking to the door.

"Wait… one little kiss? Please?" Peter said with a sad puppy-dog look. Aiyanna couldn't resist grinning, despite her reluctance to let this false courtship continue any further.

She leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Farewell."

"I hope you are free for dinner tomorrow?" Peter said, grabbing her hand.

Aiyanna hesitated. "I do not think I could get a response from my parents that quickly," she said. She quickly ran off, before he could tell her that she had misinterpreted his words and try to ask her to dinner again.

Peter sighed. It seemed like Aiyanna was already regretting the speed of their relationship. He gestured for one of his guards to come over.

"Send for Lady Fylinia if she is available. It seems I have some room in my schedule right now to see her after all."


	6. Growing Up

**So I got a review about my character being a bit of a Mary Sue. That was somewhat intentional, except I also made it so not every character automatically likes her (which is often a big and annoying part of a mary sue) and that she's not too bright and too blindly loyal (which are qualities I personally hate). I was going to drag this out longer, but I ended up shortening it into when Aiyanna's grown and learned from this incident (about 7 years later) and, most importantly, when she's a much more complex and interesting character. I also added a disclaimer in the first chapter so people won't get annoyed and stop reading before they get to her when she's older. **

**Anyways, this chapter has parts that line up with my other story _The Mercenary, _from the chapter "An Angry Faun" to the chapter "Starting Over." **

Peter didn't believe her. Didn't want to believe her. It made no sense anyways, because what Lady Fylinia told him implicated _Lucy_ in plotting or at least covering up a plot against him. Not that he even believed that Aiyanna would ever plot against him. She was so innocent, so virtuous. So… gullible and willing to do whatever her parents told her… and she had mentioned her parents not liking him much. So it was possible… but it still made no sense why it seemed Lucy had something to do with it.

"Tumnus! I need you to push back everything on my schedule. There is something I need to deal with immediately."

"Yes, sire," the faun said, giving him a quizzical look. Peter ran out towards Aiyanna's room. The door was ajar, so he quietly pushed it open. Aiyanna was so focused on the letter she was reading that she didn't notice him as he walked towards her. He fell to one knee beside her and was about to surprise her by grabbing her and kissing her cheek when he noticed that she was crying. He glanced at the letter she was reading, assuming that was the reason for her sadness and was horrified by what he read.

_Dearest daughter and our heir, _

_ Thou art foolish and gullible. The Narnian High King has tricked thee into believing that he has good intentions. Thou should have believed him not. Carry on with the plan we conferred with thee on and stray no more. Allow this silly little queen to believe you now are courting for love, not for our plan. She is young; we believe her likely to believe such things. Forget this not: thy loyalty is to us and the dryad kingdom, not to a human boy. Do as we have told thee and believe not a word he says. _

_ Signed_

_ King Ahiga and our royal wife Queen Amitola_

"Ana?" Peer said in a wounded voice. She gasped and turned around, distraught to find him there.

"Peter!" she cried, hastily stuffing the letter in the folds of her dress.

"Don't bother," he said bitterly. "I already read all of it."

"I did what I had to," she said flatly, walking away from him.

"Did what you had to? Ana, how could you?! Why would you do something like this?" Peter said, pounding on a dresser.

"Because my loyalty is first to the dryads, as it should."

"It should be to doing the right thing," Peter protested.

"Then you are a hypocrite," Aiyanna said coldly. Peter stepped back, like he had been slapped in the face.

"What?! Ana, if this is about what we were talking about earlier, I swear I've done nothing! At least not that I know of! And you should talk to me, not whatever this plan is! I… your parent were right in saying that you were foolish and gullible. Except it wasn't I that tricked you. It was them," Peter said. She turned to him in shock and he just shook his head in disgust and stormed out the door. She fell on her bed, weeping. She could only hope that he was wrong. But then again, part of her wanted him to be right, that he was the man she had thought she was before her parents changed her view of him. But what did she know? They were right about her being foolish and gullible. And it made it impossible for her to know who had tricked her.

* * *

Peter had no choice, right? He had to banish them. After talking with Lucy, he found out about the plans for the war and such and that Aiyanna's purpose in being there was to seduce him to distract him from preparing for the war. Thankfully, one thing Lucy said alleviated his anger a bit: Aiyanna seemed upset that she was forced to do this. Of course she had been. Peter was right in thinking she would never have done such a thing willingly. But the fact remained, she had, and therefore the dryads had to be banished from Cair Paravel for treason. But it hurt. He still wanted Aiyanna there at his side. She was supposed to be there for a year, and it had barely been a month. Thankfully, he had not been banished from the dryad courts. He still saw her during woodlands dances, but she tried to avoid him.

"Princess Aiyanna, why do you avoid me?" he finally asked after about 6 months of her purposely finding ways of avoiding him.

"High King, why do you seek me? I betrayed you, although you seem to have forgotten," she said in a detached voice.

"Your highness, it is because I do not want anymore animosity between us. Do you truly believe that I would ever act against you?"

"Your majesty banished me," she pointed out.

"After you betrayed me. But I could lift the ban. Perhaps now is too soon, but eventually it will be long enough that it would not seem unusual," he said.

"And do you expect me not to believe my parents when they say you overstep your authority?" she asked.

"I expect you to believe what your heart tells you is the truth," Peter said. Okay, they weren't actually his words. After he had moped around for several weeks, Susan decided to help him out with being more romantic so that he might be able to have another chance with her. Even though Susan thought it should be Ana seeking him, not the other way around. But she really got tired of Peter being dejected and complaining all the time. She had also insisted that Peter allow the dryad ambassador Lord Liwanu back into Cair Paravel or a dryad upraising would be almost unavoidable. Thankfully though, it seemed the dryads were too embarrassed by this incident, and the naiads did not feel strong enough to act alone. And a few years later when it looked like there might be another attempt at a war, a drought came which made the dryads and naiads too weak to think of war.

There were several awkward interactions between Aiyanna and Peter every time they met. Aiyanna was loath to speak against her parents, but something in her heart told her that Peter was being honest with her, or at least thought he was being honest.

At the same time, they were both maturing. This incident at Cair Paravel had marked Aiyanna. She was not the innocent goody-two-shoes she had once been. She soon became adept at navigating the treachery and backstabbing that goes on at courts. If she had been that adept when her parents had first sent her, she would not have failed. But she had not fully changed. She still had good intentions even if she was much sneaker and manipulative than she was before. And she was able to easily put on a mask of being just as sweet and innocent as she used to be.

When Lord Liwanu died, Peter sent word to the dryad court, asking for Aiyanna to be instated in his place. The dryads were all suspicious of such a request, but Aiyanna pointed out that they could change who their ambassador was at any point in time, so if something went wrong they could just instate another dryad. And Aiyanna was seven years older and smarter about such things now, so a disaster was unlikely to happen again, especially since her awkwardly courting Peter wasn't involved.

* * *

On the way, Aiyanna was accosted by a group of men. Because she was going as an ambassador, not a court visit, she had decided on traveling alone, but now that did not seem like it was such a good idea.

"Please allow me along my way," she said coldly. She could use her woodland magic to fight them, but aggressive magic was always so draining and she wasn't particularly close to the woods which also weakened her powers. If she had to use magic to fight them, she would not have the strength to walk the rest of the way to Cair Paravel.

"Ah, c'mon gorgeous. Don't you wanna stay awhile? Have some fun girlie," a drunk leered at her.

"I said, allow me on my way," she said, trying to push past them. One of the men grabbed some leaves on her head to keep her with them. She was about to try to call up some magic to fight them when a man and a leopard came to her rescue. She did not recognize the name of the leopard – Arianis – but the name of the man shocked her. Darius had been one of the names that the dryads whispered fearfully during the last few years of the reign of the White Witch. However, he had seemed to disappear until Aiyanna had heard something about him being involved in an assassination attempt against Peter and Susan more recently. But he seemed to be genuinely worried about her safety and he had rescued her from the men, so she travelled willingly with him and the leopard, although she remained cautious. Lucy was there to greet them, although she was surprised to see Aiyanna accompanied by Darius and Arianis. She insisted they all have tea and tell her all about what happened until she released Darius and Arianis to go about their duties.

"So…would that be _the_ Darius?" Aiyanna asked the moment he left the room.

"I have no clue what you mean," Lucy said.

"The mercenary that the White Witch used to threaten those who displeased her? The one who according to what I heard tried to assassinate your eldest brother and sister," she asked.

"Oh! Then yes, that's him. He's really nice and helpful," Lucy said. Aiyanna just looked at her incredulously. Lucy then sighed and explained everything that happened.

"My, that is quite a story," she said, rubbing her head which was still sore.

"Is something the matter with your head?" Lucy asked politely.

"It's just a bit sore from the men pulling my leaves," she explained.

"Oh! We should get something for that," Lucy exclaimed, jumping out of her chair and gesturing for Aiyanna to follow her. "But why did you not use your magic to heal it?"

"It's difficult to perform magic on myself where I can't see what I am doing," Aiyanna explained as they walked down to get healing supplies. On the way they ran into Tisell hurriedly fetching supplies.

"Tisell, whatever is the matter?" Lucy asked.

"Her majesty Queen Susan asked me to treat the mercenary Darius," she explained looked for the supplies she needed.

"What? I saw him just a short while ago," Lucy said in confusion.

"Captain Sirius gave him a beating because he saw Darius sneaking around the castle when he was not supposed to. Probably would have killed him too if we hadn't ridden up in time and Queen Susan decided to interfere," she explained breathlessly.

"But he was accompanying me!" Aiyanna exclaimed.

"Yeah, we should go tell Su that straightaway," Lucy said.

"Your sister wanted you anyways. But oh dear!" Tisell suddenly said. "We are rather low on herbs."

"It's no matter. I will heal him. After all, it is my fault he got into trouble," Aiyanna offered.

"Alright!" Lucy said cheerfully. If Susan had said she wanted Lucy there, then that definitely meant she would've sent for Peter. And Aiyanna would know that… so Aiyanna being so willing to go to near where Peter was when she didn't have to must be a good sign! Unless… Aiyanna had a thing for Darius because he saved her… Hopefully not. Of course not. Ana and Peter belonged together! Peter would never have admitted to it, but he had been in an incredibly god mood since finding out Ana was returning to Cair Paravel.

When they got to the dungeons, Lucy opened the door wide and decided a joke was in order to break the extremely depressing mood. "We helped Tisell with the healing supplies." She then pointed to Ana and said, "Here's all our healing supplies." Aiyanna made a tight smile at her joke, feeling awkward now that she was already facing Peter so soon.

"But I thought dryad magic wasn't as powerful so far from their tree?" Edmund asked.

"Ed!" Susan interjected.

Aiyanna didn't want to begin with being the subject of an argument, so she said, "It's alright. Generally no, but my powers are amplified as a princess and have been growing much quicker than the average dryads. But it will still take awhile and the wounds will still take time to fully heal." She began healing the damage on Darius' head.

"Incredible," Peter whispered. Aiyanna ducked her head, pretending to be very concentrated on healing Darius, to hide her blush. Arianis happened to be there, so thankfully Aiyanna didn't have to interact much, other than nod in confirmation occasionally. Her shyness made her feel like she was a silly little girl again. In fact, most everything about returning to Cair Paravel made her feel like the naïve girl she had been. Soon then the topic turned even nastier... the name of Sirius' father came up: Panbus. Aiyanna recognized the name. Her parents had been friends with him and had mourned his death when the White Witch had sent a mercenary after him. She didn't remember which mercenary, but she had a nagging feeling it might coincidentally just happen to be the one she was healing. Sure enough, it was. It quickly turned to shouting and fighting. Both General Oreius and Peter were trying to be gentle with Sirius in holding him back from attacking Darius, but had to use some force. Aiyanna didn't want to have to address Peter, but knew she couldn't just stand by when there was something she could do about it.

"High King Peter," she said, in a voice that she hoped wasn't as shaky as she felt. "Allow me." She pushed him back with her hand, but thankfully he didn't argue and simply stepped out of her way and looked at her curiously. She whispered a few words in ancient dryad that she knew would help Sirius stay calm. She then asked, "Is there anything else you'd like to add? No insults, just facts."

She had hoped that would work and she could just disappear in the corner for the rest of the pseudo-trial. But then Darius offered for Sirius to take his life. But the boy that Aiyanna didn't recognize ran to Darius and begged for his uncle's life. _So that's who he is. Lucy mentioned him… Pheneus I think?…_ But it looked like Darius did not want his nephew to advocate for him. Aiyanna decided then that she must. And perhaps it would make the Pevensies not think so poorly of her.

"If I may," she said softly to Sirius. "There is no reason to turn to enacting violence upon one who has turned away from it. Or do you want Pheneus here to be hardened by the death of his uncle just as you were by the death of your father?" Aiyanna knew those were the words to pierce him. But then he ran out. Everyone of course wanted to run out but Aiyanna said, "Wait. If you please."

Edmund and Oreius gave her incredulous looks, seeing as she had just sort of given them an order she had no right to give. Peter seemed more worried about Pheneus than what was going on. The girls just looked interested, so she pressed on, "My father was friends with his. I vaguely knew Panbus, so I will have a better chance of getting through to him." Peter looked at her hesitantly. Aiyanna pressed harder, "Please, your majesty, I know how to bring Sirius to find peace." Peter still didn't look happy to have Aiyanna take charge, but nodded his assent so Aiyanna quickly blew out of there and searched for Sirius. She headed towards the gardens, knowing a faun was likely to seek comfort from nature. She found him and convinced him to travel to the part of the forest called Passaic for peace. She was glad for his sake too. She then grimaced. She would have to return and tell them what just happened.

She returned and said, "He agreed to return to Passaic where I will arrange for my people to allow him passage and care for him. … Peter… can you arrange for an escort to travel with him to Passaic's borders?"

Peter looked surprised, which hurt Aiyanna. _Did he not think I could do it? _He nodded and Edmund actually said he'd take care of it. Peter then commanded for some of them to leave and his siblings and a few others to move to a more comfortable room. Aiyanna was unsure where to go. She supposed that Peter felt awkward commanding her around, but now she was unsure if she was welcome to follow them out. She decided on just leaving and going outside to wander the gardens for a bit. A bird eventually found her and said Susan had sent for her and was waiting for her in her private room.

"Queen Susan," Aiyanna said in what she hoped was an emotionless voice.

"Princess Aiyanna," Susan said, gesturing towards a chair. "You must be tired from the long day. Please sit. My lady-in-waiting Liesel is fetching refreshments and some snacks."

"Let's dispense with the niceties and get to the point. Why did you really tell your brother to invite me here? I know it must have been you," Aiyanna said.

"My… you've changed," Susan mused. "But yes, it was my idea. I heard murmurings of another potential nymph uprising. Don't bother deny it. I have several verifiable sources and won't believe a word of your protests against it. Also, I don't know how much Lucy told you, but Darius was sent by Calormens. Our spies have told us that they think that Calormen is likely to strike again soon. Narnia can't afford two wars simultaneously, and I believe it is in both of our best interests that we ally ourselves against the Calormens. I am willing to push away the past – which indeed is rather distant now – in order to make an alliance of sorts to prevents such a thing from occurring."

"What sort of alliance?"

"I know it ended… disastrously last time, but I believe it's been enough time that you and my brother could potentially court once again, with the idea of a future marriage to unite at least the dryads and Narnians, if not all nymphs and Narnians."

"The nymphs prefer to be separate from Narnian rule, and his marriage to me would allow him to rule the dryads at least," Aiyanna said, using that excuse to make it seem like her emotions were not caught up in this mess. What a twisted idea for Susan to have.

"And you would be able to rule over Narnians," Susan countered. "And you and Peter could work out just how much power each of you has over each other's subjects."

"Perhaps. But there still remains the problem, isn't Peter courting Duchess Veronique of Galma?"

"He's courted a few girls since you. But each ended. You may be surprised to know that yours was not the most disastrous end to a courtship that Peter has had," Susan said. Aiyanna raised an eyebrow, but refused to comment and act interested in Peter's love life – or lack thereof.

"And does Peter know you are trying to set us up again?" Aiyanna asked, her voice coming out colder than she meant.

"Well… no… but I'm sure he'd get over it quickly. Don't worry. I'll tell him it was my idea so he doesn't think you're… you know what… again. So… are you agreeing to do this?"

"Of course not," Aiyanna said.

"Why ever not?" Susan said. She had one last point to bring up that she didn't really want to bring up. She hoped that just maybe Aiyanna really had romantic interest in her brother that she was forced to hide for her parents' sake, but damn it, Susan was going to use everything she could to make this courtship happen. She knew Peter was still very interested in Aiyanna, and she wanted her brother to be happy. "You yourself once told me that you do not wish to marry for love but rather for your peoples' gain, and what more could they gain than being so represented and honored at Cair Paravel?"

"You are right," Aiyanna conceded. Susan smugly nodded. Aiyanna had to see the wisdom of such a union. Now just to make it so Aiyanna actually cared about Peter again. Susan was already planning the romantic gestures her brother could make when Aiyanna continued, "Which is why rather than waiting to fall in love, I have been making preparations to marry in order to assuage one of the dryad clans which has been angry that none of their kin has been a part of the dryad royal family for three millennia."

"What do you mean?" Susan said, rising from her chair.

Aiyanna leaned back in her chair and smiled. She rather enjoyed surprising Susan so. "I am to marry Lord Nahele."


End file.
